Taking the good with the bad.

As sad as I am about leaving our life and our friends in California, there are a few things that I will absolutely NOT miss. These are on my top 5 most un-missable things right at this moment:

One: the cigarette smoke that blows in my kitchen window every single night. Everyone who lives in our complex is a Caltech student (read:a nerd or from a foreign country). They are great neighbors for the most part. Except the apartment manager and his family. They really aren’t bad neighbors. In fact their youngest (who is 5) is Connor’s absolute favorite person to play with (besides his real best friend and future wife Malia…) Anyway, the manager also have an older daughter who is 18 and likes to smoke. A lot. She is considerate enough to leave the courtyard and sit on the steps outside. But unfortunatelly, our kitchen window is right above the steps. We like to blow the crisp, cool, California night air in through a window fan, so she really might as well be smoking in our apartment. When our living room fills with smoke, we know it’s time to turn the fan so it blows out instead of in.

Two: The (insert explictive) street sweepers, firetrucks, rice burners, and…my personal favorite… souped up motorized scooters. Could there BE anymore traffic noise?! Why do people think that the louder the car, the cooler you are? I just don’t get it. The scooter is really my favorite though. It is so freaking loud!! I don’t know what he did to it, but wow. It will wake me up out of a dead sleep 9 times out of 10. And don’t forget the street sweepers. I guess our street must be really dirty because they must drive by 5 or 6 times at about 4:00 a.m. Tuesday mornings. And, the fire station. Connor’s beloved fire station. It will be so nice when my kids can take an afternoon nap without sirens waking them up.

Three: The helicopters that constantly circle. This comes with living 1 block from a major freeway. If you know anything about California traffic then you understand the need for the helicopters. They must monitor the traffic and the accidents. And it’s bad every single day.

Four The rediculously dry air. It’s not always bad but it sure is right now. My eyes hurt, my lips are super chapped, and the inside of my nose is screaming for some moisture.

Five: The most obvious. The traffic, the price of gas and groceries, and the attitude of an overwhelming majority of people. The “I’m too important to even brother glancing up at you even though we are both out walking and passing within a foot of each other on the sidewalk” attitude. It really bugs me that when I walk with the boys, most people we pass just flat out ignore us. Even if I say hi they don’t respond. What gives?